


Of Cats and Transfiguration Professors

by wynnebat



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Animagus, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-28
Updated: 2013-05-28
Packaged: 2018-04-01 17:55:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4029241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wynnebat/pseuds/wynnebat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One day, a cat was a cat, the next, it was one's own Head Girl, Albus Dumbledore thought with chagrin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Cats and Transfiguration Professors

**Author's Note:**

> This is not correctly backdated, but sadly "old as balls" wasn't an option.

Transfiguration was a branch of magic like none other, as many witches and wizards who devoted their lives to it find out. It was a fluid thing, a magic of change and motion, and it forced one to adapt to its constant fluctuations. Perhaps Charms masters—with their hexes and jinxes and wand-waving—thought their craft similar, but nothing trumped the ability to change matter so completely that no one could know what it had started out as. Until it turned back into its original form.

One day, a cat was a cat, the next, it was one's own Head Girl, Albus Dumbledore thought with chagrin.

"Miss McGonagall," he said sternly. His blue-eyed gaze was hard, lacking its usual mirth, as he observed the most unlikely troublemaker at Hogwarts. "I have heard some unsettling rumors that I would like to clear up. As it's your first offence, I assure you I will be lenient if I receive the full truth."

He would have liked to believe that Miss McGonagall was innocent of Animagus practice, as it was illegal unless under a competent teacher and she was a law-abiding child, but it was no use. The rumors were true, that Albus could tell simply by looking at her. The young girl in front of him seemed to fold into herself under his gaze. She carried a posture of shame, with her head bent and her back arched just a little, catlike in its shape. She seemed to want to curl into a ball. Or run away, as her pale fingers were clenched in her seat as though in an effort to keep herself there.

"I—" she began. She glanced up and seemed to lose her nerve. "I—" She couldn't bring herself to continue. There was no dishonest bone in her body that could aid her in telling a false tale. She was just too honest. She was seventeen years old – a child in mind but not in the eyes of the law, and she knew full well that her possible ministry career would be ruined by a black mark on her legal record. She was also smart enough to know that an adult must be treated as an adult.

Albus sighed, stroking his beard. It would do no good to punish her now, not two months before graduation.

"Please, calm yourself, Miss McGonagall," he said, moderating his tone. "You aren't in trouble for illegally becoming an Animagus."

"I'm not?" she asked, unfurling immediately in shock. "Thank you, Professor Dumbledore! I was so worried."

Albus shook his head. "You are, however, in trouble for practicing the transformation without the guidance of a Transfiguration master. What would you have done it you lost yourself to the mind of your inner animal? Its instincts, or its fear of crowded places. What if you were stuck in your form forever? I refuse to believe that such a brilliant student such as yourself would be so reckless with her future."

"I only wanted to prove I could do it," she whispered.

"To whom? You are an adult, and I believe it is time to start acting like one, beginning with the most simple rule that adults must abide by: Do no harm to yourself or to others."

"Yes, sir."

"I've assigned you detention with Professor Slughorn, three days a week, until the week before your NEWTs. You will see him after dinner today to discuss them."

"Yes, sir."

"And, you will attend once-weekly sessions for Animagus control with me."

She instantly looked up. "Professor, can you...?"

"That will be a question for Saturday at four, Miss McGonagall."

"Yes, sir," she said, but she looked happier now that she had one-on-one lessons with her favorite professor.

She would become a great witch one day, Albus thought as he let her leave his office, if only she would be more cautious. But who was he to expect cautiousness of a teenager? It was like expecting a river to cease flooding without magic. He could change the nature of teenagers no more than he could convince Headmaster Dippet to hire a centaur as a Divination teacher.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Complete; no sequel planned.


End file.
